President Donald Trump’s many legal battles since 2015 come with an expensive price tag—one covered using $58.4 million in campaign donations, according to a The New York Times tally. His hefty spending has been used for personal endeavors, like nondisclosure agreements in business ventures, as well as legal costs associated with impeachment and the Russia scandal. “Vindicating President Trump’s personal interests is now so intertwined with the interests of the Republican Party they are one and the same—and that includes the legal fights the party is paying for now,” Matthew T. Sanderson, a former campaign finance lawyer to presidential candidates, told the Times. The filings don’t account for Trump’s legal support from the Justice Department or his personal lawyer Rudy Giulani. The Federal Election Commission’s vague guidelines allow the Trump administration to leave such details out.
